21st Century Learning

Powerful Learning Practice- Powerful Indeed

This post may be premature as I have only seen 2/3s of the PLP Independent Schools' team presentations of their impact journey through PLP and team projects- but I must say, Will and I were more than impressed. It was more on the level of WOW.

From extensive summer institutes with a Web 2.0 registration process for other schools to attend (all taught by the team members) to an 8th grade project that will utilize the best that Web 2.0 has to offer in a project based format implemented by all 8th grade teachers next year to a creative Lunch 2.0 project or school-based wikis with all digital curriculum shared and more, we found ourselves renewed in the faith that schools can make principled changes in the way we "do" school as a way to remain relevant in the lives of the students we teach. Independent school culture is such that teachers need to make certain they build on the rich heritage of what works and yet make room to rethink delivery of AP courses and such so that these kids not only get into some of the most prestigious colleges around, but they are fluent in the new literacies when they arrive.

All the project plans will be shared on the Independent School wiki after the remaining 1/3 of the teams present next week.

Cohorts are forming for next year's Powerful Learning Practice opportunity. If you are interested in learning more visit http://plpnetwork.com

Creativity Podcast Series- #1 Rob Sweitzer of Mae

 After listening to Will Richardson's podcast with Steve Hargadon I began to think about how the process of creation relates to learning. In the interview, Will describes how blogging should be the result of creative inspiration from reading the ideas of others and then synthesizing your thinking into a blog post.

Not long after I listened to the interview, I had a conversation with Rob Sweitzer, keyboard player for the band Mae, and Rob told me that he had been writing a great deal of music as a result of reviewing some fascinating books he had gotten for Christmas.

The connection  between using the work of others as a springboard for creation gave me the idea of doing a series of podcasts with highly creative people to see if this strategy was common. I also am interested to see if there is anything to learn from this possible connection in reforming education, especially as it relates to digital and media literacy.

Rob Sweitzer Show Notes

1. How important creative inspiration is to writing music.
2. What fuels creative inspiration in music creation.
3. Inspiration comes from viewing photo journalism, musical scores, reading books, periodicals, fun magazines and listening to music and how all of these stoke the ability to explore concepts you want to cover in musical composition.
4. History of Rob joining Mae, a rock band on the Capitol Records label and how changing labels has impacted the band's performance style.
5. Rob's blogging and how that relates to writing music.
6. How blogging has deepened his relationship and understanding of fellow band members.
7. Rob's take on comments and how they impact his writing.
8. Relating the process of music creation to educational reform.
9. How creativity is nurtured in school in terms of brain dominance.
10. Rob shares his personal struggle with how to balance rigor and creativity and how to break free from his preconceived conceptualizations of education as he experienced it and as it could/should be.
11. The effect of globalization on the field of music.
12. How to find out more about Mae.
http://www.whatismae.com/flash.php
13. Rob's realization that it is tough to redesign school as we once knew it. 

Listen to the interview in MP3 format

 

Interview onEdTalkLive

Had the exciting priviledge of being interviewed by Steve Hargadon for his EdTalkLive show.
EdTechLIVE's weekly webcast interviews series by  Steve which focus on educational technology. His goal is to produce a library of recordings that provide good, brief introductions to different educational technologies that can be implemented in the K-12 school environment.

I was most impressed by his interview style which resulted not only in an effective exchange of information, but his pacing enable me to throttle the rate at which I answered-- a new experience for me, as often passion takes over when I talk about this topic and I talk way too fast. :) 

For those of you who do not know Steve, he has his hands in many incredible projects.

• School 2.0 Wiki
• EdTechLive.com
• SuppportBlogging! Wiki
• EduBloggercon
• K12Computers.com
• LiveKiosk.com
• PublicWebStations.com
• K12 Open Source Wiki
• TechnologyRescue.com
• Infinite Thinking Machine

Here are the show notes (from Steve's blog) for our interview as well as the links to the podcasts. Please share your reactions in comments. I'd love to hear your take on what we discussed.

Listen to the the Interview in MP3 format
 Listen to the Interview in Vorbis OGG format

Show notes:

• Sheryl is a technology and education consultant and adjunct instructor in the School of Education at The College of William and Mary, and she was one of the organizers of the recent K12 Online Conference.
• Right now, Sheryl believes, we are in a place where computing in the classroom is really going to take off.
• She feels that it is a moral responsibility of teacher-leaders in the school to figure out how to access the tools of the web and help students to learn to use them in a safe environment. (Again, I'm fascinated with the contrast of Larry Cuban's views here, and also with the apparent difficulties that grass-roots technology efforts face in school decision-making.)
• "You can't give away what you don't own." Until school administrators are experiencing the benefits of the new technologies, there cannot be more widespread adoption of them. (This touches on the point above.)
• The students of today don't have a choice as to whether or not they will master the skills of the read/write web (and being collaborative and self-driven)--if they don't, they will be left behind in the work world.
• The magic of Web 2.0 in schools is individual growth toward the sense of being "self-actualized:" students can be transformed by being able to write things that others are interested in reading, and by being able to collaborate with others.
• The "Golden Question" right now is: can tie these new tools to student achievement? She believes it they can be, but it's very hard to measure because of all the other variables.
• Sheryl points out the need for balance: when you use any pervasive educational strategy (not just the new computer technologies), you need to make sure that there is a marriage between the passion that is generated with a rigorous education. This should be a deepening of learning, and be challenging. "Rigor and passion."
• Many students are going to be coming to school already well versed in the read/write or participatory web. Her experience has been that they are often motivated learners from these experiences.
• Sheryl talks about moving from the "Information Age" to the "Age of Conceptualization." I'm not sure I know what the "Age of Conceptualization" is...
• The most gifted students are good at the way school is played right now, and they can have the hardest time adjusting to a learning environment that is cooperative and self-directed. It is the kids who have struggled previously that really benefit the most by being able to use these technologies. (This goes along with Sheryl's desire to bring computing resources to homeless youth, and her belief in how important this will be for them. See below.)
• She sees more of the writing tools being used in the classroom--blogs and wikis--but not as much podcasting.
• The real skill needed by teachers and students will be the ability to be our own "digital age librarian," knowing how to access, select, and synthesize all of the available information. We need to tap into the power of "self-directed interest."
• On homeless or transient children:  Sheryl is a living example of breaking the cycle of generational poverty. If we don't empower these children with the same technologies that the affluent child will get at home, then we are trapping them in their poverty. Homeless children move around a lot, and often the teachers are unaware of the true situation at home. After the interview, Sheryl and I talked at length about creating a program for teacher mentoring to homeless children, and the providing of computing resources at homeless shelters (see www.PublicWebStations.com).

TalkShoe

TalkShoe is a new podcasting service! I talked with the creators today and it seems to have great potential! Wouldnt it be great to host a radio show style podcast around a particular content area for your students? Or how about a virtual PTA style meeting with panel experts to answer questions. I can see this being used for teacher professional development as well, espcially in the area of change and the read, write, Web. Check it out!  

Podcast with Darren Kuropatwa

Early in the semester I Skyped Darren into my classroom at the College of William and Mary to engage a group of student teachers. I was smart enough to capture it for a podcast.

Darren Kuropatwa's podcast covers the following and more:

1. Why his students are passionate about blogging and how would they feel if their blogs went offline.
2. How people learn. What is real learning?
3. The preservice teachers push back---and ask Darren the "tough" questions.
4. How tough is student teaching?
5. Loss of human contact--myth or reality?
6. How blogging can make you popular in class.
7. Digital Divide issues
8. The world's not flat-
9. Role of public ed. is to provide access
10. Advocate for your kids. Free unfettered access
11. The power of a comment-- and kids who are "totally juiced"
12. Mentoring project-- Is it all math?